By Dr. John Sullivan, Head and
Professor of Human Resource Management College of Business, San
Francisco State University

A note to our visitors:

We hope you enjoy the many thought provoking
articles by Dr. John Sullivan. Please to review the rest of our web site
for our solutions to some of the most troublesome HR problems raised by
Dr. John Sullivan.

Thank you for visiting, Gately Consulting

Should HR Report to the CFO or CEO?

There is no written wisdom or research on who to
report to, just practical experience.

The best firms report to the CEO with hardly an exception. If you report
to the CFO it says people are like facilities and add no strategic value.
CFO's save money by cutting costs where in contrast CEO's make money by
investing in high ROI resources.

If you are a cost cutter the CFO is fine.

If you run great metrics a CFO is fine because they understand
numbers.

If you do primarily transactions a CFO is fine because they often do
to.

If you care about image or need a title to get respect or access the
CEO is the way to go.

If all things are equal and they give you a choice go with the CEO.

If you care about perks go with the CEO If you are truly strategic
your results will cause the CEO to want you to be on their team and it
all won't matter.

Many HR people worry more about titles than results so if you
are results driven and

If you generate the highest ROI.

If you can prove you have built a performance culture (through HR
practices).

If you can demonstrate our HR provides a sustainable competitive
advantage.

If you forecast, anticipate and prepare for the future and prove we
have the most productive people in the industry.

If you show you know the business and our customers needs better that
all others